2122.5 (G) Notice Requirements
Section 19 of the Copyright Act of 1909 provided that the copyright notice for a sound recording should contain the symbol ℗ (i.e., the letter P in a circle), the year of first publication, and the name of the copyright proprietor, or a recognized abbreviation or alternative designation of the proprietor. Copyright Act of 1909, amended by Pub. L. No. 92-140, 85 Stat. 391, 391 (1971). If no other name appears in conjunction with the notice, but the producer of the sound recording was named on the labels or containers, this name should be considered a part of the notice. The notice should appear on the album covers or on the disk covers in such a way as to give reasonable notice of the claim to copyright.
For renewal registration purposes, when a sound recording is first published with a copyright notice that does not include the name of the copyright proprietor, but the record producer is named on the album cover or labels on the tape or disk of the phonorecord, the record producer will be identified in the renewal registration record as the original copyright claimant.
NOTE: A copyright notice for the visually perceptible authorship on a record album cover, disk, or insert cannot secure statutory protection for the sound recording.